Do you like to exercise? Do you look forward to your workouts? If you are like many of us, the honest answer is no.

There was a time before automatic everything when people didn’t need separate workouts to get exercise. They walked everywhere. Most of their day involved hard labor. The last thing on their minds was what to do to work off excess calories. Nowadays everything we do involves labor-saving devices. We hardly ever break a sweat. Food overindulgence is the problem now — especially the empty calories that do nothing to nourish, and everything to make you fat. Diets and exercise regimens come and go, but the formula is still the same: to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you take in. So yes, exercise in some form is necessary.

You may have a friend or relative who exercises regularly, maybe even eagerly, while you watch in astonishment. Exercise doesn't have to be unpleasant. There are many ways to burn off calories that you can find enjoyable. Maybe you don’t like doing calisthenics or aerobics. You can try power walking, dancing, swimming, or bicycling. Or you can try Pilates or yoga. You can mix in some light weight lifting. All of these activities can burn calories successfully. Many good exercises require little or no equipment and minimal space.

Exercise is vital to losing weight. Without exercise, your body interprets dieting as famine, and reacts by slowing down your metabolism to conserve every calorie you take in. This strategy helped the human race survive many long periods of famine and starvation throughout history. Exercise also builds muscle tissue, which is more metabolically active than fat. Muscle uses up more calories than fat even when you are standing still!

One big problem people have with exercise is not warming up or cooling down properly. Muscles work better if you stretch and work lightly at first. Likewise, after you're done exercising, if you don't cool down, your muscles will absorb lactic acid from the exercise, and get sore. If either step is neglected, you could end up with aching muscles the next day. That will make you feel even less like exercising. And if you keep putting it off, you will never gain the benefits.

When you begin a workout, warm up for a few minutes with stretching and slow exercise. Speed up gradually. Cool down by doing the warm-up in reverse, slowing your exercise and then stretching. A good workout will rev up even your resting metabolism for the rest of the day!

Proper diet is important. Even the greatest athletes in the world will gain weight if they fail to eat properly. The right eating plan and the right exercise plan combined will lead you to success as a healthy person.